January 28th 2017
Avengers Compound
Steve returned about 45 minutes later, Ember heard his bike coming down the long driveway of the compound and saw his muscular body jog to the main entrance.
A few minutes later he arrived back up the stairs at the main living area where he had left Ember not so long ago to buy food.
"What did you end up getting?" She asked. Ember had noticed his slightly over the edge mood today, so she was trying to be the least annoying she could be.
She didn't normally choose to be this nice so she sure as hell hoped he was noticing and appreciating it.
"Italian. Macaroni to be more specific. Only this one didn't burn to the bottom of the pan."
Ember chewed on the side of her cheek and tilted her head down, laughing slightly as Steve handed her a container of mac and cheese, before sitting next to her at the other end of the sofa with his own container.
"I thought you'd be a knife and fork, fancy plates, sitting at the dining table, kinda guy." She joked, stabbing the pasta and grinning at him with the fork between her teeth.
Steve chuckled, "I've been told that is more of a 40s or thanksgiving thing to do. And seen as it is neither the 40s, nor thanksgiving, I figured the sofa and a movie was more appropriate." He said, twirling the TV remote between his fingers.
"Ah I see." She laughed, "So what movie do you have in mind?"
"Well there's still thousands I haven't seen yet, so what are your recommendations?"
"Uh..."
And then she froze.
She knew movies, hundreds of movies. But she couldn't actually remember watching any.
Her mind just went blank, like she lost control of her own thoughts for a second.
"Uh, I'm not sure. You choose." She tried to play it off calmly, without worrying too much about her mind blank.
Steve used the remote to flick through Netflix movies, watching the trailers of some that looked alright, before deciding against it and moving onto another one.
The sun had almost completely set, and the only light that was illuminating the living area of the compound was the faint moonlight and the television screen.
He accidentally played the trailer for a spicy looking romance movie, and Ember had to contain her laughter as Steve's eyes widened as he muttered, "Why do people make this stuff?"
He also questioned why there was so many documentaries about Tony Stark, and then kept complaining about the cringe, low budget movie that was made about Steve becoming Captain America.
"That guy doesn't even look like me!"
The trailer for a world war two movie came on. Ember didn't recognise the title at all, she hadn't recognised any movies Steve had watched the trailers for which were made past 2014.
Ember looked between the television screen and Steve, she noticed that any shot that showed soldiers in uniform, or any shot that had a world war two era gun, he would tense up, and hold the remote tighter in his hand.
"Steve?" She asked softly.
God why was she being so nice. It felt weird for her to have non humiliating or non flirtatious sentences to come out of her mouth.
But seeing him so visibly upset and distressed pulled on her heartstrings.
Yes she had a heart, it wasn't all completely sexual.
Most of the time.
She reached out a hand to place on Steve's forearm.
But in hindsight that was a stupid idea.
As soon as Embers hand came in contact with his skin, he flinched, causing Embers arm to jerk away from his body, and to tuck it away, as if purposely hiding her hand from his view.
"I'm sorry— I'm sorry." He said, shaking his head as if he was shaking away his thoughts.
"Rogers?" She knew she was walking on thin ice. She presumed that at any moment the layer would crack and a version of Steve Rogers he tried to hide from everyone would show.
"Don't, I— Please don't." He said it softer than most people would. Most people would snap at another, hoping that they scare them away. But this came out as more of a beg. He was begging her to change the subject, wanting Ember to forget what had just happened.
He turned off the TV.
"You don't have to pretend to be nice to me."
His phrase wasn't as soft as the last.
"I'm not pretending—"
"Yes you are."
"Rogers people don't pretend to be nice, I'm trying to help—"
"By doing what?"
"I don't know, I—"
Ember reached for the TV remote in Steve's hand. His tight grip made it difficult for her to get it, but after prying his fingers off one by one, she managed to take control of the remote.
Steve gulped as her hand came in contact with his.
It was a horrible feeling he hated it.
"What are you doing?"
As if he himself had forgotten about the hole conversation they just had, and the events that had taken place before it. Steve had returned to being the nice guy again.
"Putting on a movie."
"I thought I was choosing a movie"
"I just sat for twenty minutes while you watched movie trailers on Netflix. I give up waiting on you choosing one."
"I wanted to pick. You're so annoying."
"You love me."
Steve shook his head, and threw his feet up onto the footstool in front of him, discarding of the mac and cheese container on the floor.
"Why were you so stressed earlier anyways?"
Okay she was bored of being nice now. Curiosity had taken over.
"It's nothing."
"Are you sure?"
"I stopped going to my therapist. It wasn't helping."
"Helping with what?"
"The stress. But really it's nothing."
"You literally killed about 500 punch bags, none of which you gave a funeral, which I think is exceptionally rude. That doesn't seem like nothing."
"Why do you wanna know?"
Great. Just when they were getting somewhere Steve decided go be I'm Captain America and I'm big and strong and have fluffy blonde hair that I hide with a ridiculous looking helmet man again.
"Because I'm curious."
"Curiosity killed the cat."
"I'm gonna kill you."
"You shouldn't say that you'll get thrown in jail."
"That's mean, I thought you were supposed to be a good guy."
"Yeah, and you're supposed to be a villain. But look how that ended up. Eating food I bought on my couch."
"This isn't your couch. Plus if I had a choice we'd be in your bed."
"Why do you wanna go in my— Oh, never mind."
His innocence really turned her on.
"So you're gonna tell me why you were murdering punch bags?"
"Nothing, I just heard back from Tony and they found some stuff on the mission we all hoped that they wouldn't find."
"What did they find?"
"A base we all thought had been abandoned for years, but it turns out not to be, and it's running on a much larger scale than any of us could ever have imagined."
"Woah— Uh... What kind of base?"
"The kind you'd want to blow up."
"I've blown up a lot of stuff."
"I know."
"I meant please elaborate on what kind of stuff."
"Well the stuff is HYDRA."
He said it with such pain, and hatred in his voice, as if the word alone made his blood boil.
"They're the ones who took Bucky."
For once in her life, Ember had went quiet.
"Yeah, yeah I know. I read about it in a museum."
"The Smithsonian?"
"Yeah, that one."
"I'm sorry about the base," She apologised quietly, "That must really suck."
"Yeah, it does suck."
It felt weird to hear Steve say suck, but she went with it.
February 4th 2017
Avengers Compound
The next week made Ember want to jump off the roof of the Compound.
Bucky had come back from his trip with Addy. Ember had no idea who Addy was besides from the fact that she was a therapist, but Bucky seemed to talk highly of her. Not that she had spoken to Bucky much.
He liked to play hide and seek. Without the seeking part. He liked to hide.
The week had been filled with the same sort of routine. Ember would be woken up by Steve banging on her door and telling her to meet him in the training room. Then they'd train for a while, and then he'd send her away again to do her own thing while he dealt with calls from Tony, and destroying every punch bag be could find in the compound.
There was no more attempted movies, and Steve was always busy when Ember was eating dinner, so there were no more shared meals either. Not that Ember had even offered to eat with him, or cook him anything.
Not because she was a shit cool, because her Steve Rogers tolerance was very low when she was on her period.
"That's not hard enough." Steve said, "That punch wasn't hard enough to even make anyone flinch, never mind stumble back a bit. You need to stay alert, Rose."
"I am alert." She argued, punching the bag again with all of her strength. "And when I get these damn cuffs off, I'm gonna destroy you so bad in this training room."
Steve suddenly grabbed hold of Embers forearm and twisted her around. Her body was moved away from the punch bag and towards the nearest wall, pushing her against it forcefully, both arms pinned above her head.
She gasped louder than she had meant to (well actually she hadn't meant to gasp at all) as her skin that wasn't covered by her sports bra, hit the coldness of the training room wall.
For an innocent guy from the 40s, Steve Rogers really knew how to turn a girl on.
Well most of the time it was accidental, but you get the idea.
To Embers surprise, Steve smirked.
Okay so maybe it wasn't as accidental as she had originally thought.
"Is this what happens when your stressed?" She panted, making direct eye contact, loss of breath due to both the endless training and the surprise of Steve having her hands pinned above her head in a way most people would deem as sexual. "You pin girls against walls."
"You tell me."
"I think you need to let loose a little. Stop being so... Tense."
As she spoke, Ember removed one of her arms from Steve's grasp delicately trailed it down his abdomen which was covered in his skin tight shirt, before resting her hand on the wall, one of Steve's arms resting by his side.
"But when you let loose, you're not alert."
"Who says you have to always be alert?"
Steve broke the eye contact, but kept one of his hands held up above Embers head to keep her arm in place.
"What are you suggesting, Rose?" He asked, his voice low, husky.
There was a deafening silence. All Ember could feel, besides Steve absentmindedly moving his hips closer towards her, was his grip tightening on her wrist.
"Maybe you should go for a run." She smirked, watching Steve's eyes widen as she spoke. "Maybe a cycle and a swim too, go for the whole triathlon."
Steve let out a breath he hadn't even realised he was holding and defeatedly released his grip on her other wrist. Both of their arms falling to their sides.
"Yeah." He replied, their bodies still as close as they had been previously, close enough that Ember could feel his breath on her face, and smell his toothpaste, "Maybe I will."